LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 7, 2027
Support voting rights for people with disabilities
As the Nov. 3 election nears, it’s a good time for us to understand the challenges faced by our friends and colleagues who live with disabilities.
I can remember how excited I was to vote for the first time. I am legally blind with limited vision, and my mother helped me proudly cast my first ballot in 1976.
There were no accessible ballots or entrances to the polling places then, no laws to secure our voting rights. As an African American woman, I knew how many people gave their lives so everyone could vote in the United States, a right I have never forgotten.
The Help America Vote Act, passed in 2002, granted all citizens with disabilities the legal right to vote independently. We still have a few hurdles to overcome, but Orange County voters can benefit from equipment and procedures that reduce the barriers to voting.
Now, in this county, our challenge is to help people with disabilities understand and exercise their inalienable rights to independent voting and to ensure that those rights continue to be secured.
Do not let anyone or anything prevent you from voting on Nov. 3. If you are not sure of your voting status and options, contact your county Supervisor of Elections office. Let’s show Central Florida that voting matters to citizens with disabilities.
— Marilyn Baldwin, Orlando
Marilyn Baldwin is a member of the League of Women Voters of Orange County Board of Directors. The LWV election site at vote411.org has
nonpartisan information.
Shown below, participate in the OCT 15 Blind Experience and Marilyn, shown right, at Supervisor of Elections office accessible voting machine demo
Another Letter to the Editor from Attorney Jeffrey Freedman, Boynton Beach